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Tovar, Alicia. “Provoking Skit.” 3 October 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.8.3 Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Create a skit involving two students who have a really big secret (make it age appropriate for students). One student threatens the other because they want to tell the secret. Have the student who wants to tell walk up to another friend or teacher and start a conversation like they are going to tell. At this climatic moment, stop the skit. Ask your students: Do you think she is going to tell the secret? Explain why. Point the discussion towards certain incidents and dialogue that lead them to that conclusion. Connect for students that incidents and dialogue foreshadow things that are going to happen in a story.

Wing, Heather. “Clique Journal.” 31 August 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.11-12.1. Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain

Make a journal log of all the different cliques in your high school. Define where they normally hang out, the similarities and differences between the people in those groups, what they are known for doing, etc. Find a way to help someone outside your own group—help them pick up their books, sincerely talk to them and be nice, bring them desert for lunch—it does not have to be something big just find a way to do something nice for them. The goal for students is to get them to reach outside their own cliques and break an attitude or mindset about another group through service. Write a personal narrative about what nice thing you did for someone outside your group. Why did you decide to help that person? Describe how you felt before, during and after this experience. How did their reputation effect how you approached them? Connect this to The Crucible through the theme of reputation. You can have a discussion about how someone builds a reputation and the effects of that reputation. Then introduce and follow the theme throughout the reading of The Crucible.

BYU 276 Class. “Mad Libs.” 3 October 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)

Mad Libs Activity. Find key dialogue from part of the play the students have already read. Create a mad libs for the dialogue. Take out key pieces of the text from the play and then have the students come up with their own verbs, nouns, or synonyms to the actual word in the dialogue or your own synonym. Then you have the students fill out their worksheet that has the dialogue and blanks where their words belong. Have them read it to a partner and note the different effects their synonyms create. Is the new meaning more positive or negative? Use this to teach impact of word choice on meaning and authorial tone.

UCTE Conference. “Mini Flip Book.” 7 October 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.11-12.5. Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

Flip Book. Have your students create a mini-flip book by folding a piece of paper into 8 squares (hamburger fold, hamburger fold, hotdog fold). Make sure the creases are well done. Open it up to the first hamburger fold; hold the crease upwards, so that four squares are seen under that crease. Tear the middle crease (down the middle) halfway down. This should leave a cut down the center of your paper to the center of all the four squares. Unfold your paper so it is flat. Fold it hotdog style (the top crease should have middle two squares with cut crease). Squish the book together by moving the two outside squares with top creases towards one another. Make into mini-book with 8 pages (including front and back cover). During reading, interrupt your class and ask them to fill in one page of their book. Ask them to draw a picture of a character just introduced, react to a situation that just happened, summarize a passage, why do you think the author presented the situation that way. Morph the activities to what you want them to get out of that passage. This activity should take a few days to complete—suggested to do only a page or two a day.

Tovar, Alicia. “Character Drawing.” 12 September 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.11-12.7. Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

Have students do a character drawing of Abigail, citing particular physical characteristics directly from the text. When everyone is done have everyone hold up their drawing and look around. Discuss the similarities and differences, including citations from the book. Then, a day or two after (so they forget their book character drawing) watch the scene where Abigail is introduced from the movie rendition of The Crucible. Have students do a character drawing of Abigail and cite what in the movie scene made them draw that. Compare and contrast the two character drawings. What is different? What is the same? Talk about how movies are representations of one person’s interpretation of the play.

Norr, Jenna. “I am” poem. 10 October 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.8.3. Analyze how particular lines of dialogue or incidents in a story or drama propel the action, reveal aspects of a character, or provoke a decision.

Have students develop their own “I am” poem based on a character in the book. Explain what an “I am” poem is; create your own based on a character. Then have the students choose (or assign them) a main character in the book. Build your own “I am” poem based on what you think about the character and what they did in the book. Have a couple of sentences (at least 3) explaining why you said what you did using the play. Read your poem and explanation to a partner. Find where those character traits where found in the play.

Tovar, Alicia. “Character Drawing.” 12 September 2011.
Common Core Requirement: RL.11-12.7. Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, or poem (e.g., recorded or live production of a play or recorded novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the source text. (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one play by an American dramatist.)

Have students do a character drawing of Abigail, citing particular physical characteristics directly from the text. When everyone is done have everyone hold up their drawing and look around. Discuss the similarities and differences, including citations from the book. Then, a day or two after (so they forget their book character drawing) watch the scene where Abigail is introduced from the movie rendition of The Crucible. Have students do a character drawing of Abigail and cite what in the movie scene made them draw that. Compare and contrast the two character drawings. What is different? What is the same? Talk about how movies are representations of one person’s interpretation of the play.